Jack London's To Build a Fire

Unlike his first fire, his second was needed so he would be able to dry of his wet clothing after falling into a semi-frozen stream. The story stated, “At a place where there were no signs, where the soft, unbroken snow seemed to advertise solidity beneath, the man broke through. It was not deep. He wetted himself half-way to the knees before he floundered out to the firm crust” (236). Unlike having dry feet, where one could run and eventually bring the feeling back into them, with wet feet one could run for an eternity in sub-zero temperatures and never have the feeling return. “He knew there must be no failure. When it is seventy-five below zero, a man must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire--that is, if his feet are wet” (237). Without any other options left, the man must build yet another fire. This fire, however, is now a necessity, whereas before it was just a comfort.

After his tragically failed attempt at a second fire, the man, who is now in panic, must build and fire to save his life. With his body wet, cold, and exhausted, it comes down to whether or not the man can “contain” himself long enough so that he is able to build a fire. “It meant life [the fire], and it must not perish” (240). By now the man is suffering of probable frostbite, and if not, most definitely the extremely cold and is unable to build a fire because of his severe shivering. “He tried to poke them together again, but in spite of the tenseness of the effort, his shivering got away with him, and the twigs were hopelessly scattered” (241). With his last effort to save his life a failure, the man begins to accept his situation as what it truly is. “His idea of it [running] was that he had been making a fool of himself, running around like a chicken with its head cut off--such was the simile that occurred to him. Well, he was bound to freeze anyway, and he might as well take it decently. With this new-found peace of mind came the first glimmerings of drowsiness. A good idea, he thought, to sleep off to death. It was like taking an anesthetic. Freezing was not so bad as people thought. There were lots worse ways to die.” (243)

His first fire- an amenity, his second fire- a necessity and, his third fire- a last desperate attempt to save his own life. This man’s actions speak through the fires he builds. However the man’s actions my have changed  had he not been so caught up in his own thoughts of apparent “invincibility”, and had heeded the warnings of the old-timer, “The old-timer had been very serious in laying down the law that no man must travel alone in the Klondike after fifty below… Those old-timers were rather womanish, some of them …” (238).  In the end, however, the man is forced into defeat and thus loses his life in his hard fought battle against nature. “You were right, old hoss you were right…” (244).